


are you still mine?

by LucilleBarker



Series: unchained melody [3]
Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Fluff and Humor, Future Fic, Humor, Implied Sexual Content, Jim "Chief" Hopper Lives
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-22
Updated: 2019-08-22
Packaged: 2020-09-23 18:24:52
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,001
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20344654
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LucilleBarker/pseuds/LucilleBarker
Summary: Joyce and Hopper’s first night alone at the house does not go as planned.





	are you still mine?

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you to everyone that has left me kudos and comments on the previous fics in “unchained melody.” The M rating is playing it safe, but I think it was the right way to go.
> 
> Enjoy!

“Hop...”

“I don’t wanna talk about it, Joyce.”

Joyce Byers lay next to Jim Hopper, her naked body covered by a blanket. Her thumb traced a line back and forth on Hopper’s shoulder while he pressed his fingers over his eyes. Tonight had been going so well. Everything had gone according to their plan—the kids were sleeping over at the Wheeler’s, they had gone out to dinner, there had been dancing. Everything had been leading up to this after taking it one day at a time. They had stumbled through the front door, her legs wrapped around his waist as he carried her to the bedroom. Clothes littered the path they had taken down the hallway.

And just as soon as it had started... it had ended.

“Hop, it’s okay,” Joyce comforted.

“I’m pretending that I can’t hear you, Joyce,” Hopper groaned.

“C’mon, it could have been worse!” She immediately knew that was the wrong thing to say as Hopper turned and stared at her. 

“Could have been _worse_?”

“That’s not what I meant,” she sighed. 

“You meant something better than ‘it could have been _worse_?”

Joyce shifted over to lean on top of his broad chest. His eyes closed as she ran her fingertips over his brow, across his forehead, into his hair. “Hopper, it makes sense. I get it. You were trapped in that place for god knows how long, and you haven’t had sex in a while. It was bound to happen. Plus, it’s not like you had much time for dating when you had El—“

“There was dating,” he mumbled.

Joyce’s nose wrinkled at the admission. “What?”

“Well, **a** date, I went on **one** date.”

“You never told me you were seeing anybody.”

Hopper shrugged. “I don’t exactly like to broadcast my private life, Joyce. Besides, it happened the February after the gate closed the first time. You were still...” 

He didn’t have to finish that thought. And he was right: she was still grieving over Bob and the loss of that deep devotion and love he had given her. There were even a few moments when she would see how happy Jonathan and Nancy—holding hands, leaning their foreheads together, watching TV on the couch—and she would have to steal away into her bedroom and weep silently.

“Anyway,” Hopper continued. “I didn’t tell you, and it wasn’t good anyway, so there was nothing to tell.”

“Okay,” Joyce nodded. She kissed his shoulder and lay her head on his shoulder. There was nothing to tell, and that was that.

“Who was it?” she asked.

Hopper swore under his breath. “Marissa.”

Joyce sat up and gaped at him. “The librarian? Oh my god, you asked her out _again_!”

“It had been over a year, almost two! Things had changed, and I thought maybe I was in a better place for it—“

“I can’t believe she actually gave you another chance!”

“Jesus Christ, Joyce...”

“You know, people have called me crazy, but this falls under the definition of insanity—“ Joyce stopped in the middle of her thought as her mind unpinned something else he had said. “Wait, you said it ‘wasn’t good.’ What do you mean ‘it wasn’t good?’”

Hopper’s lips flattened into a straight lined grimace. “Joyce...”

“Was it like tonight—?“

“I couldn’t get it up, Joyce!” Hopper exclaimed. “There! Okay? I coudn’t get it up with a woman I had already slept with before. And I really don’t want to talk anymore about that or the fact that I just came in my jeans!”

Joyce’s eyes widened. Between Hopper’s exasperation and embarrassment, there was really only one way she could react to his confession. And that was full, unbridled laughter. She cackled and gasped for breath, burying her nose into Hopper’s shoulder. She pulled herself up and could barely see him rolling his eyes as her body was shuddered with laughter.

“Oh my fucking god!” she snorted.

“That’s right,” he said, closing his eyes and shaking his head. “Laugh it up. I got all night.”

Joyce forced herself to take deep even breaths, fanning her flushed face with her hands. “I’m sorry, I’m sorry,” she gasped, the occasional chuckle escaping as she tried to calm down. “It’s just... I know it was only a couple of seconds of knowing, but to found out I was jealous over nothing. And then you said that and I just—“ Another giggle hiccuped out of her, and she covered her mouth.

Hopper raised an eyebrow, and that cocky smirk of his made a slow return. “Jealous, huh?”

She gave his shoulder a gentle push. “Shut up, I wasn’t _that_ jealous.” 

“Joyce, I rarely beg for an ego boost. But based on the last thirty minutes, let me have this.” 

She grinned. “Fine. Maybe I was. What I really mean is that I finally got my guy—I still feel kind of stupid for not acting on it sooner.”

Hopper wrapped his arms around Joyce and pulled her close. His voice lowered in volume and gained in sincerity. “Hey, I told you: I wouldn’t trade how we got here for the world. And if I’m being honest, Marissa couldn’t get me going because I was thinking about someone else. Someone I cared for a lot, with years and years of history that I didn’t want to let go of.”

“Oh, yeah?” she teased.

“Yeah,” he said.

Joyce leaned forward and brushed her lips against his. Their embrace became more heated as tongues found each other and Joyce moaned into Hopper’s mouth. He refused to break contact as he gently rolled her onto her back. His mouth traveled down the side of her neck, gliding lower and lower.

“What are you up to?” She asked. 

“We have the house to ourselves for the entire night, Joyce,” Hopper growled as his lips skimmed her abdomen. He looked up at her and her breath hitched at his wolfish smile. “And I am going to spend it making you pay for laughing at me.”


End file.
